Mum charged after toddlers she was 'teaching a lesson' die in hot car

An American mum who smoked marijuana and took a nap as her toddlers were dying in a hot car has been charged.

Mum-of-two Cynthia Randolph, 24, from Texas changed her story on a number of occasions as detectives investigated the deaths of her 16-month-old son, Cavanaugh and two-year-old daughter, Juliet on a 36 degree day last month.

She originally said the pair had been playing in the back yard while she did chores. She noticed they were missing and found them unresponsive in the back of her locked car, breaking a window to try and free them.

When officers pressed her further, her statement changed.

She said she had found her children playing inside the car. They refused to come inside the house, so she "shut the car door to teach Juliet a lesson, thinking she could get herself and her brother out of the car when ready".

Randolph then smoked marijuana and took a two-hour nap. When she returned to the car, the children had lost consciousness due to the heat so she smashed the window to make it look like an accident before calling emergency services.

Paramedics pronounced the toddlers dead at the scene. Randolph now faces to two first-degree felony counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury.